Baby's Next Book

I just stumbled on this absolutely fabulous idea. A children's book by the Beastie Boy's - A Horse named Paul Revere.Oh! And there are more:

Styx: Come Sail Away with Me

The Flood by Johnny Cash

Carl's Hobo Slumgullion

Oh MY COOLNESS:

Links to kids video's on YouTube.

My favorite's - Alice Cooper on Seseme Street (1978 babeee), and Burt does the pidgeon!

I had no idea this stuff was out there. Our kid is going to be so warped!

Nesting?

A few random things to catch us up...

Today I went through the closet today and packed up all the clothing that no longer fits. If it was anything but a bottom with an elastic waist or a top made of knit fabric it was thrown into a pile. We have just about zero closet space. All of this stuff will live in a box in our basement until next spring....



The really sad thing is that I had JUST gone shopping for some new work cloths. Then we found out I was going to get fat. Goodbye new cloths.

I have switched to maternity pants. Although most of them are a bit too big which adds a bit to the whole, "I'm frumpy and fat and not looking too pregnant" thing that I've got going on. I met up with one of my roommate's from college (Hi Tiffy) last week. She was in town for business and the plan was to meet her at her hotel after I got out of work. I left work and walked to the train...which was just leaving as I got there and to run to catch it. Under normal circumstances this is par for the course. City living at it's finest, although typically the door shuts in your face as you reach it. Except now I am running while trying to hold up my pants and, more or less, tripping over myself because I have lost all coordination. A graceful sight to behold.

Robby is out of town this weekend. He has travelled to Lexington to his annual Fantasy Football Draft. This left me with more time to organize. I went to one of my favorite stores - The Container Store and picked up a few storage boxes. We have been so lucky to get some hand-me-downs from friends here in Boston (thanks Melanie and J). I needed a place to put this stuff as it sits in waiting.


Perfect fit. There are some special things in there as well: A pair of candles that were a wedding gift, meant to be burned when the first baby comes (from Jolene's mom, Mrs. B). A hand knit hat. A handmade bib. A small quilt made by my mom a long time ago (it has sail boats on it). I have on extra box to fill with anything more we acquire. There is quite a bit at my parent's house as well. It truly is amazing how generous people are.

In other news, the baby has received it's first set of books. Jess, a friend from college, sent us these.



They are from the "Baby be of Use" series and they are truly hysterical. I imagine that we'll start the kid on these ASAP - just so it knows what's what.


My reading habits have also changed...


Most of these were sent to me by my friend Cathi in Colorado. I love reading all of this but have found that I cannot do it before I go to bed - otherwise I am up all night thinking about the development of the baby and that last vitamin that I spit back up.

Science experiment "Nail Growth" is still underway. It has been 12 days since I last cut them and they have grown, on average 3mm. That's 1.5mm a week! I can pratically feel them getting longer.

In much more exciting news...

We had a 14 week check up. I peed in a cup and they told me my glucose levels are fine. I was weighed and found that I have gained very little - about 2 lbs more than my pregnancy weight. It doesn't look that way...my stomach sticks way out! We were able to finally met our primary OB, Dr. L. She is really great and we're happy with our choice. Whether she'll actually deliver us is a crapshoot. There are 6 OBs in the practice and they all rotate coverage for deliveries. At this point we've met 2 other Drs. Neither of which we liked as much as ours.

The heartbeat is still there for the little alien. I am still not totally convinced that it is in there. I have this whole conspiracy theory that the Drs. put a recording in the heart rate monitor thingy. The beat, beat of the babies heart is all a ploy to relax you. ;) We also got some of our test results back - we are in the lowest risk category for Downs and other Chromosomal disorders and my blood has checked out a-okay.

We have an appointment at 18 weeks for an Ultrasound. This one will be an important one - the organs are checked and the health of the systems are confirmed. We will also, with any luck, be able to find out the sex!

Scientific Experiment

My nails have been growing like weeds. Apparently this is a common side effect of growing a baby. I just clipped them last week and had to do it again tonight. Here they are freshly trimmed on the every hungry belly.

I'll have to document the rate of growth.

According to one of the pregnancy calender the little alien should be growing some finger and toe nails right about now too.

Here is a picture Rob took last week while at my parent's house. I am exactly 12 weeks in these pictures. And about 2 days from moving on to maternity pants.


It doesn't look like much from the side. The real difference between this and the others is the roundness. There is a lot of round going on across my mid section.

Baby's First Picture

We had an Ultrasound this morning as a part of a genetic test called Ultra-Screen. They take measurements of the swelling behind the baby’s neck (apparently all babies have this in utero) and also take some blood from me. These measurements are used to associate risk of chromosomal disorders (such as Downs Syndrome). While we've decided that any baby meant to be born to us should be, it is important to us to be well prepared for what may come. The Dr. thought that, judging from the measurements, everything looked fine. The blood test will likely support this conclusion.

We had a bit of a run around getting to the right office, but once we did we were taken in, I was greased up and the Ultrasound began. The baby was in a perfect position at first but after a bit of prodding by the external probe it totally flipped to move away from it! It was pretty funny. The bugger did not want to be poked, Rob's child for sure. Although, he thought the resemblance to an alien was a bit suspicious. ;)

The Dr. confirmed that the baby was at 12.5 weeks, due 2.22.07. We saw the spine, the heart, the skeleton, its profile, face, arms, and little hands. It looks to be like she/he is pouting a bit!


Welcome Baby!

We're Back

We are back in Boston recovering from the tour of Our Homelands.




A picture of one of two sets of t-shirts created by Rob. We used these to annouce our surprise to the family! The other set is way funnier - I'll share it later this week.

Where babies come from.

Here we are at week 10.5. This week has been a pain on my body. I still have cramps (Dr. says cramps + no blood = Okay), I am exhausted, and I really don't have much of an appetite. Furthemore, a full nights sleep is a distant memory and the smell triggers for feeling pukey have expanded their repetroire. I'm looking forward to getting out of this bloated, pants don't fit, blech stage and onto something that is outwardly productive - ugly maternity cloths.

Emotionally this week has been pretty darn cool. We heard a heartbeat on Friday (170 beats per minute, I think)! We have an ultrasound appt and more blood tests (genetic testing) on August 14th. It'll will be super cool to see how much the blob has grown and changed in the time since we saw it last (at 6 weeks). Everything feels a bit more real and our excitement is growing.

We are leaving Boston this Thursday for a trip to Rochester and Kentucky. The Kentucky trip is officially dubbed: "the trip in which we tell the family". The Rochester trip will be the same, for those that have not already been told.

Sharing this surprising news has been fun and a bit interesting. We quickly found that it was way more fun to tell people in person because their faces mimics our hearts. We were shocked! They were shocked! We were all shocked! We decided from the start that Rob's family would be told in person during our trip to Kentucky. They are going to flip and really, who wants to miss that?! My extended family and close friends that live in Rochester will be told during this trip as well. Some of these folks are friends that I've known since grade school, so sharing the news will be hilarious. Although I'm not the first hometown girl to get knocked up (Amy and Charlie have that distinction), I am the second THIRD! I forgot about Brian and Becky (due in October!).

I have also begun telling the people I work with. This has been...ummm.. uncomfortable. Mostly because there is this realization that passes between me and whoever I'm sharing the news with. The realization is that - um - yes - um - I'm having a baby and yes - um - yes - that means I have sex. (Mom, Dad, close your eyes. It's not true, none of it.) They inevitably ask if it was planned and I, being the good doobie I am cannottellalie, answer that it wasn't. There is another realization that passes over their eyes. Ohhh, she is not only having sex, she is irresponsible about her sex.

Yes, this could all be in my head. But I'd venture to bet that its not. It's actually quite a funny exchange of information.